Lytes Cary, Somerton, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

William le Lyte held the estate now known as Lytes Cary in 1286, and his descendants remained in possession until 1755. In the mid-14th century, William’s grandson, Peter, built a new stone chapel, and gradually successive generations constructed a courtyard manor house around it. This building was completed in the early 16th century, when John Lyte built a new south range with its distinctive Oriel Room, new porches, kitchens, and other accommodation. In 1558, John Lyte made over his property to his son Henry (around 1529-1607), a scholarly inclined man who in 1578 published the Niewe Herbal, a translation of a Flemish herbal written by Rembert Dodoens, which he dedicated to Queen Elizabeth and which probably influenced Shakespeare in his use of plant-lore in his plays (guidebook). Henry Lyte also published The Light of Britayne (1588), which suggested that the British were descended from the ancient Trojans. Henry Lyte died in 1607 and was succeeded by his son Thomas, who studied genealogy and presented King James I with a family tree tracing his descent from Brutus, for which he was rewarded with the Lyte Jewell, a miniature portrait of themking set in gold and diamonds, now in the British Museum. By the mid-18th century, however, the family faced serious financial difficulties and in March 1755 Thomas Lyte and his son, John, relinquished their interest in the property. The manor house was let to a succession of tenants and by 1810 the north range had been demolished; the west range was also subsequently demolished and by 1835 when the house was drawn by John Buckler (National Trust) it was in considerable disrepair.

Lytes Cary continued to be let throughout the 19th century, before finally being sold in 1907 to Sir Walter Jenner and his wife Flora. A military man, Sir Walter was the son of Queen Victoria’s physician, Sir William Jenner. His brother Leopold had recently acquired and begun restoring Avebury Manor, Wiltshire. Influenced by Arts and Crafts philosophy, Sir Walter and Lady Jenner commissioned the architect C E Ponting to undertake the restoration of the surviving elements of the 16th-century manor, and to rebuild the north and west ranges in a sympathetic late 17th-century style. At the same time, the Jenners began to develop formal gardens around the house, for although Henry Lyte was said by John Aubrey to have had 'a pretty good collection of plants' in the 16th century (guidebook), and his son Thomas had extensive orchards in the 17th century (guidebook), any earlier garden had not survived the property's decline in the 18th and 19th centuries. The gardens developed by Sir Walter and Lady Jenner comprise a series of compartments and inter-related vistas, and are said to have been influenced by the design theories of Thomas Mawson (1861-1933) (guidebook). The gardens reflect the approach to design advocated by the Arts and Crafts movement and were intended to form an appropriate setting for the restored and extended house.

Sir Walter and Lady Jenner’s only son, Kentish, died in 1900, while their daughter, Esme, died in 1932. At his own death in 1948, Sir Walter left the estate to the National Trust which opened the older portion of the house and the greater part of the garden to the public, while letting the early 20th-century wings. In 1955 the tenancy was taken by Jeremy Chittenden (died 1997) and his wife Biddy, who continued to develop the gardens with the advice of the National Trust’s Gardens Advisor, Graham Stuart Thomas. Today (2002) the site remains the property of the National Trust.